SIR JOHN HEGARTY HOPES TO BE SURPRISED BY THE WORK HE SEES AT ADFEST

Sir John Hegarty, chairman and worldwide creative director, BBH, London, warns that scam advertising is a very serious problem, and if it continues, will undermine completely the value of awards and end up destroying them.

Hegarty, who received a knighthood in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2007, is heading to Asia as the film jury president at AdFest 2009, taking place March 19-21 in Thailand. As a region Asia struggles with the problem of scam advertising, a practice that has been reduced in some other markets by stricter judging processes.

He told Campaign Brief Asia: “Festival organisers have to understand this. I’ve likened it to drug use in sport. The Olympic authorities have realised if they don’t stamp it out it will destroy everything they’ve built. The same applies to our competitions.”

He has no expectations over what the standard of work will be like at AdFest – whenever he sits on a jury he hopes to be surprised.

“To see some wonderful work that hasn’t been picked up by the media. That’s the upside of judging a show,” he says.

While the global financial downturn has created an atmosphere of gloom and doom in the global industry, and Hegarty says that like any agency, BBH is not immune to the recession, he argues that it is an expanding company with a robust vision of what the future is all about.

He expects that vision and the quality of BBH’s work to sustain them over the coming years.  

Hegarty says: “Whenever a recession occurs, this is my fifth, it forces companies to look at their product and ensure they’re offering genuine value for their clients. Value that can be translated into sales. The first thing all those agencies should do is stop doing scam work. Focus your creative department on turning out genuine ground breaking sales-related work. Not something that will be seen by a few awards juries and their friends.”

How does he expect the work at AdFest to compare to that awarded at the Cannes International Advertising Festival in June?

He says: “Cannes is naturally a global festival attracting awards from everywhere. AdFest is still seen as regional, although Asia is a pretty big region. So naturally Cannes will have the pick of all the best work. But if AdFest develops a global reputation that could change. Nothing is forever,” he says.

Recognised as one of the industry’s greatest statesmen, Hegarty’s advertising career started in 1965 as a junior art director at Benton and Bowles before joining Cramer Saatchi, which became Saatchi & Saatchi, as a founding shareholder. In 1973 he co-found TBWA London as creative director, leaving in 1982 to start BBH. His awards include two D&AD Golds and six Silvers, Cannes Golds and Silvers, and British Television Gold and Silvers. He was awarded the D&AD President’s Award for outstanding achievement in the advertising industry and the Lifetime Achievement award at the 2005 Clio Awards and has been appointed to the New York’s One Club Hall of Fame and the New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame.